Intentions to Marry, 1924 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840522, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1924 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1924c contains pages 907-1334, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 931

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 30 September 1924 Registrar J. G. Crowther

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

3 July 1924

Arthur Herbert Rowe
Irene May Stone Horne

Arthur Herbert Rowe
Irene May Stone Horne
💍 1924/5106

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

21
22

Tauranga
Rotorua

10 years
7 years

St. Luke's Church of England, Rotorua

6741

3 July 1924

Archdeacon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

No	32
Date of Notice	3 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Herbert Rowe	Irene May Stone Horne
	💍 1924/5106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Rotorua
Length of Residence	10 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church of England, Rotorua
Folio	6741
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

4 July 1924

James Arthur Hill
Mary Elizabeth McSherry

James Arthur Hill
Mary Elizabeth McSherry
💍 1924/10854

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic Duties

42
40

Mamaku
Mamaku

2 years
18 months

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

6742

4 July 1924

J. G. Crowther, Registrar

No	33
Date of Notice	4 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Arthur Hill	Mary Elizabeth McSherry
	💍 1924/10854
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	42	40
Dwelling Place	Mamaku	Mamaku
Length of Residence	2 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	6742
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1924
Officiating Minister	J. G. Crowther, Registrar

8 July 1924

Te Kapo-o-te-Rangi McDonald
Te Hinga Tawhio

Te Kapo-o-Te Rangi McDonald
Te Hinga Tawhio
💍 1924/10855

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

47
50

Rotoma
Rotoma

1 year
9 years

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

6743

8 July 1924

J. G. Crowther, Registrar

No	34
Date of Notice	8 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Te Kapo-o-te-Rangi McDonald	Te Hinga Tawhio
BDM Match (96%)	Te Kapo-o-Te Rangi McDonald	Te Hinga Tawhio
	💍 1924/10855
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	47	50
Dwelling Place	Rotoma	Rotoma
Length of Residence	1 year	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	6743
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1924
Officiating Minister	J. G. Crowther, Registrar

19 July 1924

Kanji Ranji Suri
Ngarehi Hamiora

Kanji Ranji Nuri
Ngareihi Hamiora
💍 1924/10856

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic Duties

23
23

Whakarewarewa
Whakarewarewa

3 months
33 years

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

6744

19 July 1924

J. G. Crowther, Registrar

No	35
Date of Notice	19 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kanji Ranji Suri	Ngarehi Hamiora
BDM Match (94%)	Kanji Ranji Nuri	Ngareihi Hamiora
	💍 1924/10856
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Whakarewarewa	Whakarewarewa
Length of Residence	3 months	33 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	6744
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1924
Officiating Minister	J. G. Crowther, Registrar

21 July 1924

Gordon Stanley Smyth
Emma Louisa Dalbeth

Gordon Stanley Smyth
Emma Louisa Dalbeth
💍 1924/10857

Bachelor
Spinster

Land Salesman
Domestic Duties

32
23

Rotorua
Ngongotaha

2 days
23 years

St. Luke's Church of England, Rotorua

6745

21 July 1924

Rev. W. S. G. Cameron, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	21 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Stanley Smyth	Emma Louisa Dalbeth
	💍 1924/10857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Ngongotaha
Length of Residence	2 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church of England, Rotorua
Folio	6745
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. G. Cameron, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).